Sceaux France

Jeremie Belpois stretched as he got up from his computer. The 13 year old blond had been thinking about his history as a Lyoko Warrior. One year ago while looking for parts for some robots he was building, Jeremie had discovered a supercomputer in a factory next door to Kadic Academy which he attended. After turning it on, Jeremie had discovered a virtual world named Lyoko as well as a girl he had named Maia. After this, it soon became apparent that a program known as XANA had developed a consciousness and was bent on controlling the world. After he and three others had discovered how to stop the attacks, with him materializing the others onto Lyoko to fight, he had decided to leave the computer on so as to materialize Aeilita (which was Maia's real name) onto Earth. After accomplishing this, it was apparent that Aeilita was connected to Lyoko and that shutting the supercomputer would kill her. When they had managed to break the connection, a new Lyoko Warrior (as the group was called) was captured and then controlled by XANA. However, the day finally came when he was freed and the computer shut down. Now it was the holidays and Jeremie had decided to go for a walk.

A typical nerd, many wouldn't think that Jeremie was physically fit. However, when the growing threat of XANA was at its peak, Jeremie had forced his team to take a "boot camp" from their gym teacher Jim. However, Jim insisted that Jeremie do it too and when XANA attacked, Jeremie had used his new training to save Jim's life. Though they were from different worlds, Jeremie and Jim had become friends and Jeremie had continued to attend Jim's Boot Camp. As a result, he had developed the habit of taking walks or runs in the trees around campus.

Jeremie was jolted from his thoughts by Jim's voice, "Hello Jeremie!"

"Hi Jim!"

"You going for a walk?"

"Yes sir."

Jim smiled and waved the boy on with a quick, "Be back before dark!"

After a few minutes, Jeremie was in the trees and setting a decent pace. Before he could start thinking again, he noticed a man in a black robe and a strange hat. The man, a person who didn't belong on campus seemed to be looking for something. Curious, Jeremie called out, "Hello there!"

Sajin Komamura turned at the voice of a boy in a grey sweatshirt. Looking around, he then asked, "Are you talking to me?"

"Well yeah. I've never seen you before. Are you a new teacher at Kadic?"

"No, I'm looking for something. It belonged to a friend of mine."

"Mind if I help?"

"Well…" Sajin paused. "Of course. I'm Sajin Komamura."

"Jeremie Belpois."

The two walked together for a while until Jeremie heard the other mention that his head was beginning to sweat. "Well why don't you take that hat off?"

Sajin stared for a moment before speaking up. "You don't mind?"

"No, go ahead."

Sajin removed his hat to show that he had the face of a fox, fur and all. After a quick jerk back of surprise however, Jeremie quickly shrugged. "So what are we looking for?"

"A sword."

As the words came out of Sajin's mouth, something caught Jeremie's eye. "Like that one?"

Sajin turned in the direction that Jeremie pointed. After checking the reishi around it, the fox-man nodded and walked over to it, Jeremie following. "This must be the unreleased form of Ichigo's Zanpakuto, I've never seen it before."

Before Jeremie could ask, Sajin grabbed the sword and tried to pull it out of the boulder it was stuck to. After a few tries, he stepped back to rub his hands. While he did so, Jeremie decided to give it a try and grabbed the sword.

When he touched it, Jeremie felt something stirring inside him. However, he ignored it as he pulled the blade. With no effort, it came free and Jeremie handed it to Sajin.

Sajin took the blade and after saying goodbye to Jeremie, he returned to the Soul Society. As he made his way, he felt as though he had to give the blade to Captain Ukitate, the feeling being so strong that he found himself standing in front of the Squad 13 Barracks.

Captain Ukitake was shocked to see Sajin standing there, holding a sword out to him. As he stared, the fox man spoke up. "This is yours, here."

With a shrug, Ukitake took the blade and as Sajin left, he sank into sleep.

Ichigo Kurosaki's/Zangetsu's Inner World

When he awoke, Ukitake found himself on a strange surface that he quickly recognized as the side of a skyscraper. Confused, he looked up to see three people looking at him. The person on the left was a man with dark brown hair, a pair of sunglasses, and a ragged black shihaksho. The one to the right, also unfamiliar, was white with orange hair, a strange expression, a white shihaksho, and sinister gold and black eyes. However, Ukitate recognized the person in the middle. There, in a black shihaksho was Ichigo Kurosaki.

"Ichigo, you're alive?"

"Yes. Somehow, I've become a Zanpakuto spirit and must wait for my Reaper." Ichigo smiled a quick half smile. "However, he is not ready to become a Reaper yet and I needed someone who I could trust to give me to him when the time is right."

"Me?"

"Of course. I needed someone who could let go of me easy but a person I could trust all the same. I know you don't blindly follow the Head Captain and so I decided to entrust myself in your care. The spirit to my right is Zangetsu, my Zanpakuto and the one to my left… he doesn't have a name yet but he is the spirit of my Inner Hollow."